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‘You have to keep living your life’: Survivors of the Yonge St. van attack send comfort to the Danforth

On April 23, a white van barrelled down the Yonge St. sidewalk. Savoy performed first aid on a dying woman. He is a witness to the worst mass killing in Toronto history, and he says he will never forget the carnage he saw that day.

But he didn’t let that memory hold him back, or stop him from enjoying the music.

“Be aware of what’s going on, be aware of your surroundings, but still live your life,” he told the Star on Wednesday. “It’s an anomaly and we live in Toronto and people are there to support you.”

The survivors, witnesses and shaken local business owners who were touched by the Yonge St. van attack have moved past the candlelit vigils and memorials overflowing with flowers. Three months later, they’re healing and reflecting on what they’ve learned — and how that could now help the Danforth community.

Savoy said he got in touch with her family and went to her funeral. “I went through the process of shock and grief, and then the funeral was closure,” he said.

Savoy said it is “tough” to remember what he saw after the rampage.

“Those visuals will never, ever, ever leave your mind,” he said. “You have to accept that those are images that you saw, you’re going to remember them and it’s going to affect you some days, and some days it won’t.”

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The event brought the community closer, Jones said, with people being more willing to catch each other’s eyes and smile.

“The best advice I think I could give any community that is grieving is look up and have your eyes open,” he said.

They’ve had to look out for each other a little more, as tragedies can “trigger other pains,” for people.

“We don’t want to forget these kinds of tragedies but we also don’t want to wallow in the emotions of them,” he said.

Willowdale has also struggled, he said, with how to permanently memorialize the space at Olive Square, a question residents and businesses owners at the Danforth will also have to consider.

On Wednesday afternoon at Olive Square, where a mountain of flowers and stuffed animals once marked the spot across from where the attack began, only a few messages of support scrawled in black marker on stone remain.

“#Toronto Strong,” “God Bless,” and a peeling faded sticker next to a small white “Love Square sign.”

“We don’t want to forget these kinds of tragedies but we also don’t want to wallow in the emotions of them,” Jones said.

Many of the flowers at Olive Square and the nearby Mel Lastman Square came from Secret Garden Floral & Gift Boutique. Owners Summer Lin and Katherine Liu put out free bouquets on the curb after the van attack.

Lin, who spoke to the Star through a colleague who translated from Mandarin, said that offering the flowers was a way for them to feel like they were doing something, and helped ease the sad days following the attack.

She said Willowdale came together as a community, and she urged the people of the Danforth to do the same.

Her message to them?

“It will pass,” she said.

“I know it’s sad but it will go away. But we will never forget people who were injured and died.”

Victim Services Toronto provides a 24/7 hotline providing support and information for victims. It can be reached at 416-808-7066.

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